Findings: Learning standards
The vast majority of undergraduate (92 percent) and graduate (84 percent) programs evaluated meet our standard of requiring that teacher candidates practice developing instruction using the Illinois Learning Standards. Some programs had coursework that was commendably detailed in its requirements. For example, a social studies methods course at National-Louis University requires elementary teacher candidates to develop a unit of instruction that fits within the K-8 Illinois social studies curriculum and that covers all five goal areas for social studies: history, geography, political systems, economics systems and social systems.
In many cases, programs indicated that they have developed a lesson-planning template used in all coursework that explicitly asks the teacher candidate to reference the state learning standards that are relevant to the lesson. A good example is Millikin University's template, which contains the following category of information for inclusion:
Illinois Learning Standards (ILS or Early Learning Standards) met:
However, it is also clear that some programs do not provide a vehicle for ensuring integration and simply expose teacher candidates to the standards. For example, Aurora College contested the statement in our findings concluding that the program did not require sufficient integration of the state learning standards: "As each semester begins students are provided a copy of the Illinois State Standards [sic]. Collaborative groups are formed and each group is assigned one goal. Each group also receives a copy of the Performance Indicators. After reading and studying the goal, teacher candidates present their assigned goal to the whole class." Because this does not meet the standard that teacher candidates apply their knowledge of the learning standards, the findings of fact were not changed.
How Illinois teacher preparation programs fare on this standard
